SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates will hit the road for their first Northwest Conference road contest this Saturday when they visit the George Fox Bruins in Newberg, Oregon. The game will kick off at 1:00 pm and fans can watch on FloCollege and listen at www.whitworthpirates.com.
Whitworth (2-1, 1-0) defeated Pacific (Ore.) 41-6 at home last weekend in the NWC opener. George Fox (3-1 overall, 0-1 NWC) lost 58-24 at Linfield last Saturday.
The Pirates: Whitworth defeated Pacific (Ore.) 41-6 last Saturday in the Pine Bowl. The Pirates outgained the Boxers 442-107 and had a 38:26 – 21:34 advantage in time of possession.
Logan Lacio completed 24 of 28 passes for 270 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Lacio spread the ball around to ten different receivers and four different players caught TD passes. Deacon Dietz caught four balls for 79 yards and a score, while Matthew Ehler made four catches for 32 yards and one TD. Drake Matthies caught a 40-yard touchdown pass on Whitworth's first drive of the second half. TE Nate Peterson caught the Pirates' first touchdown of the game. Kurt Solano led the running game with a career-high 90 yards (6.9 ypc) and a touchdown.
Because Whitworth was so effective shutting down Pacific's running game (-12 yards rushing), the Boxers were forced to try and complete quick passes out to the flats. Cornerbacks Omari Williams and Kade Long were up to the task, leading the team with seven and six tackles, respectively. Defensive end Lucas Reynolds made five stops, including two for losses of four yards. Drew Cody made his impact felt with four tackles, a pass break up and two QB hurries. Maddox Suitonu had his second interception of the season.
Iden Bone kicked the two longest field goals of his career. He made a 48-yarder to complete Whitworth's first possession, surpassing his previous career-high of 47 yards set last season. Then he drilled a 55-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to give the Bucs a 13-0 lead at halftime. Bone also made all five of his PATs for 11 total points. Jake Gaffaney kicked off seven times for an average of 63.6 yards with four touchbacks.
Bone Recognized: Iden Bone was widely recognized for his efforts kicking the ball last weekend. He was selected as the NWC's Special Teams Player of the Week. He was also named to the D3football.com Team of the Week. And he was selected as one of three Fred Mitchell Award national Kickers of the Week.
Team Captains: The Pirate team captains in 2026 are QB Logan Lacio and center Caleb Cabrera from the offense and CB Omari Williams and LB Drew Cody from the defense. A special forces captain will be selected on a week-by-week basis. Last week's special forces captain was senior RB Owen Harris.
Defensive Stopper: Junior LB Drew Cody has picked up where he left off in 2025. He ranks second in the NWC in tackles per game (8.7) and in takeaways (two fumble recoveries, one interception).
Last Fall Cody led the NWC in total tackles (106), tackles per game (9.6) and solo tackles per game (5.4). He also had 7.0 tackles for losses of 23 yards. He was named first team All-NWC.
A "Bone" to Pick: Whitworth place kicker Iden Bone is a D3football.com preseason All-American in 2026. For good reason. In 2025 he finished the season as the league's leading scorer in overall points (82) and points per game (7.5). He made 16 of 19 field goal attempts and all 34 of his extra points. Bone ranked second in NCAA Div. III in field goals per game and top ten in field goal percentage (.842). He set the school record for most field goals made in a season, breaking the previous record of 15 set in 2015.
So far in 2026 he leads all NWC kickers in points per game (8.3). He is 5 for 6 on field goal attempts and has made all ten of his PATs.
Home-Sweet-Home: Including the exhibition game date against the Utah Islanders, six of the ten games on the schedule are in the Whitworth Pine Bowl this season. It is the first time since 2021 and only the second time in the last decade the Bucs have had six home games in a regular season. The Pirates are 50-13 at home since Rod Sandberg became head coach in 2014.
Looking Back at 2025: Whitworth bounced back from a 1-2 record against non-conference opponents to run through Northwest Conference action 7-0. The conference title came during what might have been considered a rebuilding season when the team was only returning a pair of starters each on offense and defense from 2024. Whitworth fell to Chapman 18-16 in the NCAA playoffs when a two-point conversion attempt with no time left failed to tie the game.
Leading the Evergreen State: Since Rod Sandberg took over as head coach in 2014, Whitworth has the best winning percentage of any football playing university in Washington State. Heading into 2026, the Pirates are 92-27 since 2014, a winning percentage of .773.
Above Water: The Pirates' all-time record in football now stands at 438-424-18. In 2024 Whitworth moved above the .500 mark in all-time won-loss record for the first time since the Bucs were 32-31-2 before the start of the 1929 season.
Whitworth won its 100th game in 1959, during Heritage Gallery member Sam Adams' second season. The 200th victory came in 1981 under Bruce Grambo and the 300th win came in 2006 when John Tully led the Pirates to an 11-1 finish. Whitworth won for the 400th time in school history on October 16, 2021 vs. PLU. It took 55 years to get the 100th win, 22 more to get to 200 and 25 to get to 300. It took Whitworth only 15 years to get to 400.
In 1997 Whitworth's record in football was 248-337-18, 89 games under .500. Since that point Whitworth is 190-87.
Power of 12: With the win over PLU on November 1, 2025, Whitworth clinched its 12th consecutive winning season under head coach Rod Sandberg. That extended the longest streak of winning campaigns in school history. The previous long streak of seven was set between 1959 and 1965.
Watch on FlowCollege: Like the rest of the Northwest Conference, Whitworth's home athletic events will be steamed through FloCollege in 2025-26. Fans can sign up to watch Pirate sports on the FloCollege portal. Registration is $120 for an annual subscription or $20 per month. Those who register with a .edu email address get a significant discount.
Inland Northwest Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Bud Nameck, familiar in Spokane as the KXLY channel 4 sports director for over 20 years and the longtime host of the KXLY 920am Morning News, is in his 11th season as the voice of the Pirates in 2025. He was the voice of Washington State University men's basketball for 22 years and spent that same amount of time on the Cougar football broadcasts – the final three on play by play. He is a longtime resident of the Inland Northwest who began his career as the Sports Information Director and radio voice of Gonzaga University basketball and baseball in the 1980s.
Listen to Road Games: Fans can tune in online to listen to Pirate ROAD games for free at WhitworthPirates.com. Bud Nameck will provide play by play when Whitworth is away from the Pine Bowl.
The Head Coach: Now in his 13th season, Rod Sandberg has entrenched himself in the Whitworth and NCAA record books as the Pirates' head football coach. Sandberg has guided the Pirates to a 92-27 record over that span, including five appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs (2015, 2018, 2023, 2024 and 2025). He is in second place in total victories in school history and no Pirate coach reached 50 victories as quickly as Sandberg. Sandberg's winning percentage of .773 is the best among Whitworth coaches with at least five seasons and currently ranks among the top 15 active coaches in all of Division III. He coached the Pirates to the fourth unbeaten regular season in school history (9-0) in 2018 and then duplicated that accomplishment in 2023. In 2023 and 2024 Whitworth had the first-ever back-to-back ten-win seasons in school history, and the Pirates have made three straight NCAA playoff appearances. The Bucs' 15-game winning streak, counting the final five games of 2017 and the first ten of 2018, is the second-longest in school history. Whitworth was 6-4 in 2014, Sandberg's first season, the best first-year record for a Pirate football coach since Rod Enos led the team to a 6-3 mark in 1965.
Sandberg spent 19 seasons on the defensive staff at Wheaton College (Ill.), including the last 11 as defensive coordinator. Wheaton made the NCAA Division III playoffs five times during Sandberg's tenure as defensive coordinator. The team never lost a first round playoff game and reached the Division III semifinals in 2008 and quarterfinals in 2003. Sandberg's 2007 and 2013 squads led the Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, regarded as one of the strongest football leagues at the Division III level, in scoring defense. The Thunder were second in the league in scoring defense five other times.
The Bruins: George Fox has turned things around from last season when the Bruins came into Spokane with an 0-4 record. After losing at Whitworth to drop to 0-5, GFU won four of its last five games. That momentum carried over into this season as the Bruins started 3-0 against non-conference opponents. The momentum was slowed by last week's 58-24 loss in the NWC opener at Linfield.
George Fox comes into the weekend averaging 30.3 points and 413.0 yards per game, while allowing 25.8 points and 365.5 yards per contest.
Spencer Crace is in his second season as head coach of the Bruins after spending seven years as the offensive coordinator at Pacific Lutheran.
The offense revolves around sophomore QB JJ Leman who has completed 58.3% of his passes for 893 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Also a threat to run the ball, Leman has picked up 121 yards and two touchdowns rushing. Sophomore WR Karsen Denault, who stands 6'-4", has 27 receptions for 528 yards and four touchdowns. Junior RB Brody Snyder averages 5.1 yards per carry and has scored two touchdowns. Defensive end Jacob Erickson is a three-time All-NWC selection who has already been named the league's Defensive Player of the Week twice this season. Senior safety Ben Nuss leads the team with 27 tackles.
Last week Linfield pulled away from a close game at halftime by scoring on its first four possessions of the second half to open a 51-12 lead, on the way to a 58-24 victory. The Wildcats outgained the Bruins 547-377. Leman completed 11 of 22 passes for 148 yards with one interception. Denault caught four passes for 131 yads, including a 75-yard touchdown reception, and also ran 16 yards for a score. Nuss led the defense with eight solo tackles.
Last Meeting: Whitworth got out to a quick 14-0 lead against George Fox and then cruised to a 40-16 win over the Bruins. The Pirates ended with 404 yards of offense.
Luis Salgado ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, averaging 6.5 yards per rush. Logan Lacio started the game and completed 14 of 19 passes for 125 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Renat Mamikonyan Jr. came on at QB after Lacio was banged up and completed 11 of 15 throws for 130 yards with his first career TD pass. Wide receiver Deacon Dietz had four catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns.
The Pirate defense held an opponent under 20 points for the fourth time in five games in 2025. Drew Cody led Whitworth in tackles for the fourth time in the season with nine stops, one of which went for a loss. Wyatt Hess intercepted his second pass of the season.
The turning point of the game came on special teams. After GFU scored a touchdown to get within 14-6 midway through the second quarter, Drew Cody blocked the extra point and Omari Williams returned the block 98 yards for a defensive two-point conversion, which extended the lead back to 16-6 and cut into the Bruins' momentum. Iden Bone made his only field goal attempt from 19 yards away in the fourth quarter and went 4-4 on extra points.
The Series: Saturday's game is the 12th meeting between the two schools and Whitworth leads the series 8-3. Whitworth won the last game played in Newberg 31-0 in 2024. GFU's last win was 28-14 in Spokane in 2022. The Bruins' largest margin of victory was 43-23 in 2017, also in Spokane. The Pirates' biggest win in the series was the 31-0 win in Newberg in 2024.
Coming up next: Whitworth will host Linfield University on October 17th on One Big Weekend, which celebrates Homecoming, Parents Weekend and Hall of Fame weekend.
